Now everything has changed. Hiro listened carefully to the passing overseers and learned a lot.

  {From what I understand, there are several continents in this world: the Demon Continent, Etheria, Ignis, and Skalaris. Right now, I'm on Etheria, but in the far northern part—a place said to be plagued by extreme cold, where nothing exists but snow-covered plains. There are also creatures that have lost their minds and turned feral—monsters. There aren’t many here, but the ones that do appear are ridiculously strong. The men also talked about mages, swordsmen, and something in between. Mages and swordsmen have ranks.

  **For mages:**

  1st Rank – Novice

  2nd Rank – Ordinary

  3rd Rank – High Tier

  4th Rank – Excellent Mage

  5th Rank – Great Mage

  6th Rank – Legendary Mage

  7th Rank – Deity of Magic

  **For swordsmen, it’s supposedly the same.**

  I’ve been thinking about what I could become. They say silent mages don’t exist—so how was I able to create a fireball without knowing any incantations? Maybe I’ll become the first silent mage, or maybe not.

  The overseers also said that if you're a high-level mage—around 4th or 5th rank—you can’t become a good swordsman. And anyone who tries to balance both magic and swordsmanship ends up being a loser. Think about it: if you face a strong opponent who can’t be harmed by magic below rank 5 or swordsmanship of the same level, you’d just be lying there taking hits—completely useless. I hope I never meet someone like that.}

  A year passed. Hiro was now four years old. Everything had been relatively calm. Nobody bothered him—they just fed him, gave him water, and ignored him, while Hiro absorbed information from their conversations.

  Then, one day, Hiro woke up to a loud noise. The cell bars in the neighboring cell had slammed shut.

  {Wh-what? Did they bring someone in?}

  After the overseers left, Hiro approached the wall and asked:

  - "Hello. What’s your name?" —H

  - "...???"

  - "Do you understand me?"

  A girl’s crying echoed in response.

  - "Hey, what’s wrong? Calm down." —H

  Hiro didn’t know how to comfort her, but he came up with an idea. At some point, Hiro had practiced earth magic and learned how to sculpt figures. He recreated an anime figurine—from some anime he couldn’t even remember—and slid it through the bars toward her cell. The girl noticed and stopped crying, though she still sniffled.

  - "I-is this f-for me?" —???

  - "Yeah, take it." —H

  - "Th-thank you." —???

  - "Tell me, what’s your name?" —H

  - "A-Aida." —A

  - "I’m Hiro. Nice to meet you." —H

  - "What are you doing here?" —H

  - "M-my village was attacked… everyone was killed, and I was captured." —A (on the verge of sobbing again).

  - "Damn, that’s rough." —H

  {Well, the girl’s had it tough. I should support her—she’s the only conversation partner I have.}

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  {Months passed. I absorbed mana, talked with Aida, and checked in on her well-being. As it turned out, even in this "hell," there were kind people. One overseer, named Silim, took care of us. He told us a lot, sometimes even brought treats—a good guy, really. Everything was fine… until one day. Aida fell seriously ill. Even though I asked her about her condition every day, she still got sick. She suffered terribly. To help her, I gave her my bread and sustained myself on mana alone. But I started suspecting that her illness might be caused by mana absorption, so I only practiced within the confines of my cell. I also healed Aida with a healing spell, transferring my own mana to her. I noticed that the more mana I poured into the spell, the larger its radius and the stronger its effects. Knowing there were only seven ranks, and that this was clearly a 1st-rank spell, I wondered—what would happen if I poured an enormous amount of mana into a beginner-level spell? Would its rank change? I conjured a fireball and began feeding it mana. Over time, it grew hotter and expanded in volume, but I tightly controlled its diameter, compressing it from a ball into a sphere of fire. In theory, this was the strongest form a fireball could take. The sphere even began shifting through different colors. I ended the experiment there before I burned everything down.}

  {After three weeks, Aida got much better, but I was still afraid to absorb mana outside my cell. Then, one day, the guard Silim came to us.}

  - "It’s time for your testing." —S

  - "What kind?" —H

  - "We’ll determine your aptitude in swordsmanship and magic." —S

  {Makes sense. Since we’re slaves, they need to know our worth.}

  - "You’ll be taken out one at a time." —S

  Another overseer arrived.

  - "You’re first." —O

  - "Me?" —A

  - "Yes, come out." —O

  Aida left with the overseer.

  - "Aida is taking her magic test right now. Should I send you straight to the swordsmanship test?" —S

  - "Sure." —H

  {The faster I get this over with, the faster I can get back to studying magic.}

  The cell bars opened. Hiro stepped out for the first time in years. Walking down the hallway, he noticed the other cells were empty—this entire building was just for him and Aida. They led him outside to a training area enclosed by a fabric dome, keeping it warm inside. In the center stood a man with a wooden sword.

  - "This is our boss, Scot. He’s a 4th-rank swordsman of the Slashing Blade style, and he’ll be administering your test." —S

  {A 4th-rank Slashing Blade swordsman? That means he’s mastered the sword to the 4th tier. Problem is, I’ve never even held a sword before. What do I do?}

  Hiro stood about 20 meters away from the swordsman. He was given a wooden sword, and Scot addressed him.

  - "Tell me when you’re ready, then attack or defend." —S (His voice was rough and emotionless.)

  Hiro glanced around.

  {Aida doesn’t seem to be here. Nobody cares about me except her, so… might as well try copying his swordsmanship. I’ll set the radius just up to him and… Done!}

  Hiro’s eyes turned violet, and the ends of his hair took on a deeper purple hue. (His natural eye color was black.)

  He smirked.

  {I can feel it all. It’s like I’ve held a sword for years and never let go. It worked.}

  He remembered his nails. (They were naturally black.)

  {A little cosplay won’t hurt.}

  Hiro tossed the wooden sword into the air with a spin, extended his right hand, and snapped his fingers—just like Kaneki Ken. He caught the sword and lunged forward, closing the distance in an instant. Scot blocked, but Hiro struck with overwhelming force. What followed was a fierce sparring match. They clashed like two disciples trained by the God of the North. Hiro didn’t give Scot a single opening. At times, he’d leap back before rushing in with devastating strikes. It ended with Hiro disarming Scot. He knew everything Scot did—but Scot didn’t know Hiro’s techniques. That’s why he lost.

  - "Thanks for the fight, kid." —S

  Hiro blinked. His eyes returned to black, and his hair dulled.

  - "Let’s go, kid." —Silim

  Hiro left with Silim.

  Later, Aida returned.

  - "Aida, how did it go?" —H

  - "Amazing! They told me I could become an Excellent Mage! My mana level is above average!" —A

  - "Good job." —H

  - "By the way, Hiro, I heard you beat the Saint of the North! You’re so strong! You’re definitely going to be the greatest swordsman!" —A

  Hiro smiled.

  - "Thanks." —H

  {Who knows?}

  Silim went to see the boss.

  - "Have you reviewed the results?" —Silim

  - "Yes." —Scot

  - "What’s your verdict?" —Silim

  - "The girl is highly valuable." —Scot

  - "And the boy?" —Silim

  - "As for Hiro… put manacles on his wrists and chain him to the wall." —Scot

  - "What? Why?" —Silim

  - "The last thing we need is him escaping." —Scot

  - "How could he possibly—?" —Silim

  Scot frowned.

  - "That kid beat me at four years old! I fought him seriously and lost. A warrior like that won’t be held back by bars or chains. If he tries to break out, we’ll have to set up mana-suppression circles too. It’s impossible for a four-year-old brat to defeat a 4th-rank swordsman! He needs to be watched at all times. That’s all. You’re dismissed." —Scot

  Silim listened with a skeptical, uneasy expression.